A presentation regarding Urban forms of Chennai

1. Chennai urban form
By Edwin Jacob Y

2. Introduction
 Chennai is the fourth largest metropolitan area in India, with a population of 7
million in 2001. Located in State of Tamil Nadu, Chennai is the major city of
southern India. In its formative years, Chennai served as the capital of the Madras
Presidency and was its main administrative and commercial center.
 The city has a diversified economic base, with well-developed industrial and
tertiary sectors. Chennai is the main automobile production
and assembly center in India, and it is gaining momentum as a back-office and IT
center.
 The economy of Chennai grew by 13% per year on an annual
compound average basis between 1990-1 and 2002-3.
 Population growth in Chennai and other large Indian cities has also increased
rapidly. Between 1981 and 2006, the population of Chennai grew by 2.3% per
annum. While this figure is robust, it is less than the overall growth rates for Indian
cities (2.99%).

5. Elements of Urban Form

6. Density

8. Cont.
Moreover, as demonstrated in Figure 1, the overall density of the city has increased
because the city is expanding; however, in terms of density, the increase has not been
large in the in the areas further than 10 kilometers from the city center.
Many zones have seen slight increases from very low densities of less than 13 persons
per hectare to between 13 and 120 persons per hectare. However, the density of the
Chennai City Corporation has increased dramatically, especially in the area from 6 to
10 kilometers from the center of the city, where it has almost doubled to very high
levels of population density.
Some areas of Chennai have more than 1,000 people per hectare, which is
density as high as in centers of much larger Indian cities like Mumbai or Kolkata.

11. Housing/Building Type
 The gap between households and housing units in 2001 was of the order of 36000 units in
the Chennai Metropolitan Area.
 The slum population as identified at the time of preparation of the Second Master Plan
(2001) was 818,872 or 19 percent of the city population. Of this about 75,498 families
have been identified as being based in vulnerable locations such as river margins, water
logged areas, seashores and road margins, and are categorized as objectionable slums.
 The incremental housing demand in Chennai was 413,012 in 2011 and will go up to
1,237,482 in 2026.
 Similarly EWS (Economically Weaker Section) demand, which is 30 percent of the total
mentioned above, is estimated to increase from 1,23,904 in 2011 to 3,71,245 in 2026.

12. Constraints
Constraints including lack of purchasing power, security of tenure of land, unclear titles
of house property in rural areas, unavailability of flexible housing finance system, lack of
awareness about building technologies and paucity of public fund are resulting in
inadequate housing and habitat conditions especially for the poor and economically
weaker Sections. As a result, the gap between housing demand and supply has increased
considerably.
Nearly 35 percent of the available housing stocks are temporary and semi-temporary
structures. The housing shortage is estimated to be 9.11 lakh of which 50 percent is in
urban areas.
Source: Working Group Report on Housing –Tamil Nadu

13.  Per 2011 census, there are 1.1 million households in the city and the residential
housing stock available is 1.15 million – a surplus of about 50,000 houses.
 About 43,700 of them are kept vacant.
 In the suburbs of Chennai located in Tiruvallur and Kanchipuram
districts, the figures of vacant houses 56,000 and 71,000, respectively. Of the
existing housing stock in the city, about 200,000 houses are not in good condition,
necessitating either to rebuild or build new units.
 About 26,000 households live in houses without any room and another
427,000 families (with an average size of five members) live in small dwelling
units with only one room.
 An earlier estimate shows that there is a need to generate about 420,000 units for
low-income groups by 2016

14. Eleventh Five-Year Plan
Performance
 Tamil Nadu Housing Board
Since its inception, Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) has constructed
about 4.01 lakh dwelling units, out of which 2.91 lakh units have been constructed for
Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), Low Income Group (LIG) and Middle Income Group
(MIG) Sections.
 Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board
The Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board has constructed 1.29 lakh houses / tenements since its
inception. The slum development works with land tenure have been provided in 504 slums
under MUDP (Metropolitan Urban Development Programme) and TNUDP (Tamil Nadu Urban
Development Project) thereby benefiting 1.30 lakh slum families.
 Tamil Nadu Cooperative Housing Federation
Since its inception, the Federation has provided financial assistance to the tune of `4752.88
crore for construction of as many as 11. 64 lakh houses in the State. At present there are 837
Urban Cooperative Housing Societies and 197 Taluk Cooperative Housing Societies affiliated
to the Federation.
 Tamil Nadu Police Housing Corporation Limited
TN Police Housing Corporation Limited has constructed 1985 houses under this scheme
at a cost of `20.39 crore.
These data are valid for the period 2007-2012

15. Schemes implemented by TNSCB

16. Layout & land use

18. • From 1991 to 2016 the growth of urban, i.e., built-up, areas were more than three-fold, i.e.,
an increase of about 37,919.81 ha
• This transformation influenced several classes, especially the agriculture and vegetation land,
which decreased by about 3802.70 ha (4.61%) and 9923.32 ha (12.03%), respectively.
• The bare land exhibited the highest amount of decrease, i.e., 30.3%
• The water bodies increased by 1451.79 ha between 1991 and 2003, but decreased slightly
between 2003 and 2016 (about 651.65 ha).
• The Chennai coastline has also experienced a remarkable urban growth between 1991 and 2016
.Almost all the coastline of the study region was covered by urban settlements by2016 by an
alarming rate of conversion of the mangrove forest area

20. Transport infrastructure

24. Cont.
 Road transport is considered to be the most cost effective and preferred mode of
transport both for freight and passengers keeping in view its level of
penetration into populated areas. Thus, it is vital to economic development and
social integration of urban areas. The total length of roads in all urban local
bodies in the State was 46,992.37 kilometers as of 2013-14. Of which, 61 percent
were in Corporations and Municipalities. The remaining 39 percent was in Town
Panchayats. The share of roads in urban local bodies to total length of roads in the
State during 2013-14 was 17.3 percent.
 Urbanization leads to overcrowding of public transport services particularly during
peak hours. As a result, there is a massive shift towards personalized transport
especially cars and two wheelers and also proliferation of various types of
intermediate public transport modes such as auto-rickshaws and taxies.

25. conclusion
 For a city of its size, it has a very dense center that continues to add
population.
 Meanwhile, changes in land use indicate that the region is simultaneously
growing in a sprawling pattern.
 The population growth in the periphery of the city is evident along transit
corridors to the north, south and west.
 The combination of development approval and infrastructure provision again
shows to have a highly significant positive effect on land prices, especially for
industrial uses.

26. Sources
 Dense and Expanding: Urban Development and Land Markets in Chennai, India
by David E. Dowell and Paavo Monkkonen December 2007 (UNIVERSITY OF
CALIFORNIA)
 An Analysis of Growth Dynamics in Chennai Metropolitan Area by Prof. Dr. S.P.
Sekar and S. Kanchanamala (Institute of Town Planners, India Journal 8 - 4,
October - December 2011, 31 – 57)
 https://www.populationu.com/cities/chennai-population
 URBANISATION report by Tamilnadu govt.
 Modelling Urban Sprawl Using Remotely Sensed Data: A Case Study of Chennai
City, Tamilnadu Rajchandar Padmanaban 1,*, Avit K. Bhowmik 2, Pedro Cabral
1,*, Alexander Zamyatin 3, Oraib Almegdadi 4 and Wang Shuangao 1

27. Singara Chennai 2.0
 A new urban employment scheme covering all corporations, 7 municipalities &
37 town panchayats would be implemented at a cost of Rs 100 crore this year.
 Rs 300 is allotted this year for restoration of water bodies, parks and to
improve sports facilities and school in all urban local bodies.
 Rs 200 crore will be allocated to restore 25 water bodies in Chennai, while Rs
120 crore will be allocated for the construction if new storm water drains in
144 roads in Chennai.
 Rs 500 crore will be allocated for infrastructure upgrade in 42 local bodies,
which will be added to Chennai corporation under Singara Chennai 2.0
scheme.
 Rs 300 crore will be allocated to renovate footpaths in Chennai. Rs 460 crore
to dest and restore 600 lakes in urban local bodies.

28. Proposals under Singara Chennai 2.0
 Project Blue- A project set to transform the city’s coastline. The city will get beachfronts
with a facelift, water sports facilities and an aquarium. The aim is to showcase the city’s vast
coastline and improve tourism
 Beautification of subways and flyovers across the city with urban gardens, play areas
 Redevelopment of Anna Nagar Tower Park with a proposal for a Ferris wheel
 Area improvement projects to be undertaken for Guindy & Egmore stations
 Science & Mathematics Parks for children to encourage scientific enquiry and temper
 Heritage landmarks of the such as the Victoria Hall to be renovated on priority
 Creation of an Art District in the city to encourage street art and other forms that showcase
local life and culture
 Creation of a pet park, science center and a state-of-the-art multi-sports complex
 Promotion of electric vehicle use

29. Thank you